Unlike the autobiography, which tells a chronological life story, a memoir is a nonfiction book in which the author writes about a particular time or experience in their life. There are many subgenres in this category, including parenting, travel, reading, and various time-restricted projects, like hiking a famous trail or cooking every recipe in MasteringContinue reading “The Lost Parent”
Tag Archives: Reading
Holding Back The Years
Publishing is nothing if not an industry of trends. Vampires, wizards, and mainstream S & M have all had their days, with subsequent years of knockoffs and copycats. There are also downtrends: successful streaks that decline into middling sales. One popular concept that is disappearing is the “my year of” projects. In these memoirs, authorsContinue reading “Holding Back The Years”
Books About Books
My love of reading came a little late. Raised in a family of bibliophiles, I admired cover art and read flap copy until finally, at sixteen, I found a book that enthralled me enough to turn the pages until the end. I have missed out on the experience of lounging around an endless summer readingContinue reading “Books About Books”
I’m Looking Through You
One of the great enigmas of the suspense genre is how to pull off a huge twist. I have read about a hundred-fifty mystery books and only been able to predict the plot in totality a few times. Is this because the writers are especially gifted or could it have more to do with theContinue reading “I’m Looking Through You”
The Value of Browsing
Online browsing is such a fundamental of life that it is easy to forget its predecessor. If you are fifty are older, chances are you spent your foundational years discovering books by wandering at leisure through book stores and libraries. These things still happen, but they have become more antiquated. Indie bookstores have slowly disappeared,Continue reading “The Value of Browsing”
Voice Tricks
Some readers have a preference when it comes to narrative voice. The first person is intimate but limited, like listening to one side of the story. The third person is more expansive, like hearing multiple sides of the story from a more objective source. Some writers use multiple first-person narrators, a bridge of sorts betweenContinue reading “Voice Tricks”
Gangs, Guns, Prison, Poverty
I once attended a publishing panel featuring YA authors of color. The general vibe was downbeat, which can be expected from any discussion of fiction. Nearly 90% of first novels don’t get published, and those that do often make less than 10K for the author. It is a tough industry with a star system thatContinue reading “Gangs, Guns, Prison, Poverty”
Time For Letting Go
It’s the end of the year, and I have been thinking about the books I’ve read, not just this year but for the past few. Four years ago, I decided to keep a book journal to track plot similarities in mystery/suspense books. The aim was simple: since I write in the genre, I was lookingContinue reading “Time For Letting Go”
The Ten (2021)
I often find it difficult to select “best of” lists based on a numerical limit. Do I really need to cut off an excellent contender just because there were ten more suitable options? (And why ten?) The next criteria to grapple with is what the standards are for naming something “best.” There are beautifully writtenContinue reading “The Ten (2021)”
The Reading Afflictions
Not everything is joyful when it comes to books. There are experiences that take the fun out of reading, such as the reading rut, the hostage negotiation, and the incessant replay. If you are an avid reader, you have probably experienced all of these. So what are they? I will attempt to explain. 1. TheContinue reading “The Reading Afflictions”
Books Smitten 